In the year 1940, the area
behind Montgomery High School would no longer be considered a
pristine riparian habitat, because the area was being destroyed. The
river was nearly drained of water, so there were few cattails or
sedges left. A couple of deep rooted sycamores, some willows, and
more non-native plants such as mustard, fennel, horehound, and curly
dock would most likely be what was growing in the river bottom. The
steep sides of the mesa probably supported coastal sage scrub and
chaparral vegetation which could survive on the little bit of yearly
rain. When the City of San Diego built the dam at Lower Otay Lake in
the year 1880 it stopped the water flow from the 273 acres around the
lake. Now the river only contained the water which ran off from its
creeks during winter rains and some agricultural runoff from the mesa
tops. Since there were no sewer systems at this time, this water
would include the waste from farm animals, town's people and farmers.
This eliminated most of the fish, amphibians, animals and plants that
required year round water. On the mesa tops the people built farms
right over the vernal pools and the native grasses. In 1921 a rock
and sand mining company began operating in our study site area. In
Hoang's picture you can see men mining. It is still in operation
today, but they now can chop off parts of the mesa with big
machinery.